"Just when you thought it was going to be the Coyotes moving back to Winnipeg, turns out it might be the Thrashers relocating instead." - Fleet Admiral Wanye von Gretz IV May 16, 2011.

The always observant Citizen of the Nation Oil Kings 'n' Pretty Things busted out a Hoorah in the comments section in a Lowetide article today with a link to the following article which was posted about half an hour ago as 'Breaking News' on the Winnipeg Free Press website:

"Atlanta Thrashers beat writer Chris Vivlamore is reporting that True North Sports and Entertainment is in negotiations with the Atlanta Spirit Group to purchase the Atlanta Thrashers.Vivlamore tweeted the following Monday morning.

"I have confirmed that the Atlanta Spirit and True North are in negotiations about sale and relocation of Thrashers. Story to come soon."

True North spokesman Scott Brown told the Free Press "no comment," as did NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly when confronted with this report."

EXPERT ANALYSIS

Reams of print and acres of digitial e-ink have been devoted to the woes off the ice in Phoenix in the past couple of years. The fact that the Thrashers could be this close to moving with substantially less fanfare speaks to the dire economic situation in many US markets than the popularity of NHL hockey south of the border.

In many markets it isn't a case of hockey being an unsaleable product to Americans. Instead it has everything to do with the underpinnings of the economy coming undone in many of these cities.

The Georgian unemployment rate hit an all time high in January of 2011 at 10.4%. Considering the suspicious way that the Americans calculate these statistics - removing anyone who has been on the economic sidelines for several quarters in a row from the list of the unemployed - the number of unemployed could be substantially higher.

The long term unemployed has jumped by nearly half in the past year:

"There were 262,700 long-term unemployed Georgians in January -- those who have been out of work for 27 weeks or longer. This marks a 47.1 percent jump over January 2010. The long-term unemployed now account for a record high 54.2 percent of the 484,668 jobless workers in Georgia."

The group that owns the Thrashers, the NBA Hawks and the arena have been piling up massive hockey related losses in recent years.

"The Atlanta Spirit group, which also owns the NBA's Atlanta Hawks and Philips Arena, has been looking to sell the Thrashers for years, claiming losses of $130 million US since it bought the team in September 2003. A viable local buyer has not yet emerged, sparking speculation that the team could be on the move."

The spotlight of the Canadian media following this story will shift from PHX and will now fall squarely on ATL. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

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I prefer Manitoba Mounties, Manitoba Flood, or even Manitoba Moose to the Jets. A little more original and applicable. I always hated the Thrashers name. What is a "thrasher" anyways? Did anyone ever know? It's too generic.

Check your history.........the fans, city, and province raised millions of dollars (13M I believe). The selling parties could not come to terms with the buying group. The transaction took place without any help from the nhl. Winnipegs average attendance was 13000.........phoenix is 14000. 35000 fans showed up for a rally in 1995 winnipeg........only 200 in phoenix. Winnipeg population is 684000.......glendale is 227000. Phoenix has never made money......ever, and every team in the league is footing the bill.

Check my history? okay

bleedingoil wrote:
"the fans, city, and province raised millions of dollars (13M I believe). The selling parties could not come to terms with the buying group. The transaction took place without any help from the nhl."

I wrote:
"the Oilers are here because a BUNCH of local guys scraped to put their money where their mouths were."

I prefer Manitoba Mounties, Manitoba Flood, or even Manitoba Moose to the Jets. A little more original and applicable. I always hated the Thrashers name. What is a "thrasher" anyways? Did anyone ever know? It's too generic.

A thrasher is Georgia's state bird (as Wanye alluded to). It looks kind of like a female robin...definitely not what picture when I hear the name Thrasher...

bleedingoil wrote:
"the fans, city, and province raised millions of dollars (13M I believe). The selling parties could not come to terms with the buying group. The transaction took place without any help from the nhl."

I wrote:
"the Oilers are here because a BUNCH of local guys scraped to put their money where their mouths were."

History checked.

ok.......what you actually wrote that i was trying to point out was
"If Winnipeg had done the same thing they would still have their team, that's hardly Bettman's fault. You want another team in Canada, that's great but at least use facts in your arguements, not just stereopyical jokes because Bettman's American."

I was pointing out that Winnipeg did do what a BUNCH of Edmontonians did. They did more than that. They did more than Glendale and Phoenix did. The difference is Bettman and his egoistical point of view. Gary came to us in 1993 as the first ever commissioner and within his first few years we lost 2 canadian franchises to the US, found 6 american ones and relocated Hartford. We have seen 2 lockouts, and 2 great Television deals to US markets that are blacked out in Canada. I live 10 hours away from Montreal and I cant watch some home games on NHL Center Ice because I live in their "home area" WHAT! and to ask someone else to back up a comment....of course Bettman will get voted back in for another term....24 of the 30 teams are American! Look at the NHL's rosters...how many are American? It is a Canadian Game folks and Frodo Bettman is taking it away. He will do what he can to take it. The only reason we have the 6 franchises we do is because of the backing from ownership in each city. If the oilers fall on hard times and the city wants to foot the bill and lose MILLIONS of dollars every year, dont think for one minute we wont be haulin ass down to Houston. Bettman falls into the same category and Harold Ballard and Peter Pocklington. They are business men and that is it. The league and the players are employees and are only there to make money. How does the NHL make even more money? They sell adspace on the ice, boards and sell naming rights to rinks. Rink names change as often as rosters do. Soon we will start seeing adspace being sold on jerseys and a partnership with NASCAR (which i do love) The expansion has thinned out the talent, and spread out the wealth so much that some teams have as much as 15% salary on one player. We will never see a league like we had in the mid 80's ever again. He needs to go.

ok.......what you actually wrote that i was trying to point out was
"If Winnipeg had done the same thing they would still have their team, that's hardly Bettman's fault. You want another team in Canada, that's great but at least use facts in your arguements, not just stereopyical jokes because Bettman's American."

I was pointing out that Winnipeg did do what a BUNCH of Edmontonians did. They did more than that. They did more than Glendale and Phoenix did. The difference is Bettman and his egoistical point of view. Gary came to us in 1993 as the first ever commissioner and within his first few years we lost 2 canadian franchises to the US, found 6 american ones and relocated Hartford. We have seen 2 lockouts, and 2 great Television deals to US markets that are blacked out in Canada. I live 10 hours away from Montreal and I cant watch some home games on NHL Center Ice because I live in their "home area" WHAT! and to ask someone else to back up a comment....of course Bettman will get voted back in for another term....24 of the 30 teams are American! Look at the NHL's rosters...how many are American? It is a Canadian Game folks and Frodo Bettman is taking it away. He will do what he can to take it. The only reason we have the 6 franchises we do is because of the backing from ownership in each city. If the oilers fall on hard times and the city wants to foot the bill and lose MILLIONS of dollars every year, dont think for one minute we wont be haulin ass down to Houston. Bettman falls into the same category and Harold Ballard and Peter Pocklington. They are business men and that is it. The league and the players are employees and are only there to make money. How does the NHL make even more money? They sell adspace on the ice, boards and sell naming rights to rinks. Rink names change as often as rosters do. Soon we will start seeing adspace being sold on jerseys and a partnership with NASCAR (which i do love) The expansion has thinned out the talent, and spread out the wealth so much that some teams have as much as 15% salary on one player. We will never see a league like we had in the mid 80's ever again. He needs to go.